A new point of view
by eDiNbUrgh
Summary: A stack of books appears when the friends are hanging out, and Lissa's wish to read them forces Rose to do so. And they'll discover a whole lot of things that happened during their one year that we experienced. READNING THE BOOKS. May contain spoilers.
1. Prolouge

**Prologue – The Arrival**

Six books suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the room. Seven pair of eyes looked at it suspiciously, though no one dared take a step closer. You'd expect a guardian to move fast as lightning at any form of suspicious material, but no. Not even with three of them in the room, they did.

"What is that?" a female asked. Her blonde hair looked perfectly angel-like to her pale cheeks, and her voice sounded pretty, but anxious.

"I don't know Lissa", another female answered and took one step forward. "It might be dangerous."

Suddenly, one of the males started laughing. He had now realized what it was, and was laughing so hard he had to bend over. "It's books! Books aren't", he laughed even more, "_dangerous_."

"What do you know about the matter, Christian? Read a lot, huh? No, didn't think so." The second female looked fiercely on her friend, but took even more steps closer; she dared do anything. She had just been a little frightened when they first arrived, that's all.

Yes, books. She could see that now, and six of them too. What was that supposed to mean? Rose Hathaway wasn't the kind of person who read a lot, it just happened once in a while but it didn't mean she liked it. Was this some kind of a joke?

"Rose, I don't think there's any problem", Lissa said, taking steps towards the book with Rose. The girl with dark hair and skin sensed how eager Lissa was to see what kind of books this was, she wanted to read them even.

That's sick, Rose though, but went a head of her friend to pick up the books. They still might be dangerous, and if someone was to be blown up, it was Rose and definitely not Lissa, not just weeks after she had become the queen of the Vampire society.

"Vampire Academy", she read skeptical. "That's the title of the book." Rose though it sounded odd, almost like it was about St. Vladimir's Academy. She knew there were other vampire schools out there, but nah, she had always trusted her gut feeling, and this was about St. Vladimir.

"Okay", replied Lissa, who already sat down at the floor. She still looked like an eager angel, and Christian sat down beside her, while Adrian Ivashkov still was standing. Dimitri Belikov, the handsome man the Rose currently dated and was madly in love with, looked at the book with the same suspicion Rose felt. "Are you going to read it to us?"

"This isn't a book with fairytales, Lissa, I bet you", Rose answered and eyed the cover. "And I'm not reading it. It seems like bullshit."

"Well at least, little Dhampir, you could read the summary to find out if it is bullshit or not", Adrian said with a smirk. He was drunk, and had been for the last weeks. Rose had dreaded to meet him again since their last time, but yeah, well. Here they were, and he was drunk.

"That's a long sentence for someone who's drunk", Rose commented dryly, but did turn the book around and read the summary out loud.

**Only a true best friend can protect you from your immortal enemies …**

"'Cause that doesn't sound like a cliché at all", Rose paused to say, but got a dark look from Lissa's angle. Even Christian seemed annoyed that it would take so long time, and they were only on the first line.

**Lissa Dragomir**

"That's me!" Lissa cried, first happy and excited, then confused. "What do I have to do with the story?"

**Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous vampires - the ones who never die. **

**The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway,**

"That's you …" Lissa continued, very confused by now, but she was the only one that showed it.

"Thank you, captain Obvious", Adrian said.

"And thank you, Lieutenant Sarcasm", Christian said with an angry glare towards Adrian.

**Lissa's best friend,** **makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa form the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.**

**After two years of illicit freedom****,**

"Two years?" Dimitri asked, although he knew that it was true. He seemed to defend himself with the next thing he said: "I know it's two years, but I'm still amazed that you could hide for that long."

**Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy,**

"Thanks to someone", Rose commented with a look on Dimitri, though she was sort of happy that it had happened. Because if not she wouldn't have become a guardian, she wouldn't have met Dimitri and Lissa wouldn't be queen now.

**a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forest of Montana. ****Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking hearts.**

"Ouch", Christian said, like he had gotten a punch or anything.

_Not yet_, Rose thought and an evil smile curled her lips, 'til Dimitri questioning looked at her with a smile.

**But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger…and the Strigoi are always close by.**

"Too close", Eddie Castile muttered, and his first words this odd afternoon.

**Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love,**

Dimitri did some kind of a noise, though no one understood what it had been. Not even Rose understood what he thought at that moment.

**and never once let their guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever.**

"It sounds like some kind of biography of our lives, Lissa", Rose said with a grimace when she glanced at the cover again. She did not like the feeling about this. Not at all. Not knowing what might happen in this book, or what it was about, didn't make Rose wanting to read a book about her.

"Oh, come on, Rose, we've never watched it from this side of the story!" Lissa said, eyeing her friend with compassion. "Besides, it sounds like it's from a third person POV, which means it's probably from both of our heads. I'll make an embarrassment of me too. You're not alone."

Lissa looked so angel-like and it seemed like she really wanted to read the book, even though Rose didn't. But she couldn't stand not doing something Lissa wanted, so she sighed.

"I don't want to begin", mumbeld Rose.

"No one is forcing you", said Lissa with a faint smile of compasion. "I could begin if you'd like?"

"Fine", the others agreed, nodding towards the two friends, who exchanged looks of gratefulness.

"You may begin", Christian said dramatically with a low voice, and Rose instantly knew she'd like this less than the summary.


	2. Chapter One

**Read the first chapter a while ago? Re-read the end, I made a mistake writing this chapter, and it was easier re-writing the end of the prologue than the whole chapter. Thank you!**

**I felt her fear before I heard her screams.**

Rose went cold. This wasn't a third person point of view. It was a first perspective, and not the one she had imagined. This was not good. She shivered. The I was her, Rose.

**Her nightmare pulsed into me, shaking me out of my own dream, which had had something to do with a beach and some hot guy rubbing suntan oil on me. Images—hers, not mine—tumbled through my mind: fire and blood, the smell of smoke, the twisted metal of a car. The pictures wrapped around me, suffocating me, until some rational part of my brain reminded me that this wasn't **_**my**_** dream.**

She shivered. The I was her, Rose. And 'she' was Lissa. "Oh Vlad", Rose murmured to herself, "this isn't good. Not good at all."

Lissa trailed off from whatever sentence she read, and Rose knew they knew what she knew. Third perspective. Rose swallowed. She was used to be in the center of attention, but not in this way. If the book continued this way, they would get to know what was inside Rose Hathaway's mind, at that was definitely not a good thing.

**I woke up, strands of long, dark hair sticking to my forehead.**

Dimitri run his hands through that dark hair the book described, consciously trying to calm her.

**Lissa lay in her bed, thrashing and screaming. I bolted out of mine, quickly crossing the few feet that separated us.**

"You have no idea how bad that sounds …" Adrian chuckled.

"Shut up, Adrian", Lissa defended them both. "It's not like that, and you know it."

"**Liss," I said, shaking her. "Liss, wake up."**

**Her screams dropped off, replaced by soft whimpers. "Andre," she moaned. "Oh God."**

Christian took Lissa's hand and gently strokes it, to show his compassion. They all knew who Andre was, and they now knew what Lissa once had dreamt of when having nightmares.

**I helped her sit up. "Liss, you aren't there anymore. Wake up."**

Lissa and Rose shared one look. They knew, they remembered exactly how things had been. Rose nodded in encouragement to make Lissa continue to read the first chapter of the frightening book.

**After a few moments, her eyes fluttered open, and in the dim lighting, I could see a flicker of consciousness start to take over. Her frantic breathing slowed, and she leaned into me, resting her head against my shoulder. I put an arm around her and ran a hand over her hair.**

"**It's okay," I told her gently. "Everything's okay."**

"**I had that dream."**

"**Yeah. I know."**

Another look shared between the two girls. No words used, they didn't need them. They understood perfectly.

**We sat like that for several minutes, not saying anything else. When I felt her emotions calm down, I leaned over to the nightstand between our beds and turned on the lamp. It glowed dimly, but neither of us really needed much to see by. Attracted by the light, our housemate's cat Oscar leapt up into the open window.**

"A cat?" Adrian asked with a arched eyebrow. "Yours?"

"No, you moron, if you had listened", Rose said giving him a pissed-off look as duct tape went through her mind. Duct tape was always a good solution.

**He gave me a wide berth—**

"Not weird, they don't like dhampirs", Dimitri said thoughtfully.

**animals didn't like dhampirs, for whatever reason—but jumped up on the bed and rubbed his head against Lissa, purring softly. Animals didn't have a problem with Moroi, and they all loved her in particular. Smiling, she scratched his chin, and I felt her calm further.**

"So the next time you're angry with me, I'll pretend to be a cat to calm you down?" Christian asked jokingly, trying to ease up the tension in the room.

Lissa giggled at his words. "Sure."

"**When did we last do a feeding?"**

"You're last _what_?" Sydney Sage exclaimed, though being very quiet until now. She knew what she had heard, but she was wishing desperately that she'd heard wrong.

"Feeding", answered Rose in a cold, stern voice. She still didn't like this book. It was about her. It was like someone had captured her thoughts.

**I asked, studying her face. Her fair skin was paler than usual. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and there was an air of frailty around her. School had been hectic this week, and I couldn't remember the last time I'd given her blood. "It's been like…over two days, hasn't it? Three? Why didn't you say anything?"**

**She shrugged and wouldn't meet my eyes. "You were busy. I didn't want to…"**

"Liss, you know … Anytime you need it …" It felt so weird saying it in front of the others, but Rose knew that it wouldn't have felt weird saying it to Lissa only, so she went for it. "Anytime you need it, ask me."

She eyed her pale vampire friend with a serious look, and Lissa nodded. She felt awkward going through it here with the others as well, but if Rose could talk about it, so could she. "I know."

"**Screw that," I said, shifting into a better position. No wonder she seemed so weak. Oscar, not wanting me any closer, leapt down and returned to the window where he could watch at a safe distance. "Come on. Let's do this."**

"**Rose…"**

"Rose", quoted Adrian with a whiny, pathetic joke and then he laughed. Guess that's the way it is when you're drunk, Rose thought. She better use duct tape in the near future.

"**Come **_**on**_**. It'll make you feel better."**

"It does", Lissa mumbled, like she was ashamed of what she would do next in this weird book. They both remembered it, and that was the freaky thing. Who knew all this stuff about them? Because if they knew this, they would know so much more.

Oh dear God no, Rose thought while panic went through her body.

**I tilted my head and tossed my hair back, baring my neck. I saw her hesitate, but the sight of my neck and what it offered proved too powerful. A hungry expression crossed her face, and her lips parted slightly,**

Lissa moaned. She was even blushing a little now, and she was the one reading. She couldn't stop.

**exposing the fangs she normally kept hidden while living among humans. Those fangs contrasted oddly with the rest of her features. With her pretty face and pale blonde hair, she looked more like an angel than a vampire.**

"You always do", whispered Christian with a slight smile and slid his fingers down her arm.

**As her teeth neared my bare skin, I felt my heart race with a mix of fear and anticipation. I always hated feeling the latter, but it was nothing I could help. A weakness I couldn't shake.**

**Her fangs bit into me, hard, and I cried out at the brief flare of pain.**

"I never imagined it'd hurt", said Sydney. She was really confused, and this was only at the beginning. Rose almost felt sorry for the Alchemist being here with them, getting to know all this freaky (because it was) stuff.

"I thought it got all … It feel like your drunk? Understand me?"

"I totally understand you", Adrian said with a flirty smile. "I could bite you now and you'll see yourself …"

"That's it Adrian!" Rose stood up, pissed at Adrians behavior today. It was no way to behave, no matter how sad or broken you were. And really, he seemed as he was neither. "I'm getting the duct tape."

**Then it faded, replaced by a wonderful, golden joy that spread through my body. It was better than any of the times I'd been drunk or high. Better than sex—or so I imagined, since I'd never done it.**

Christian lift one eyebrow, that cool way Rose always had wanted to be able to do, asking her if _really, a virgin? _

"I'm not a slut", Rose said, hurt by what he thought of her. They were like brother and sister, teasing each other 'til the end.

**It was a blanket of pure, refined pleasure, wrapping me up and promising everything would be right in the world. On and on, it went. The chemicals in her saliva triggered an endorphin rush, and I lost track of the world, lost track of who I was.**

As Lissa read the next sentences Rose were looking for a duct tape. They were in the Coronation room of the court, so she could go and pick some up at her room (she kept it there, just for reasons like this), but when she reached for the door, it was locked.

"Guys, someone who has a key or something?" she asked, hesitating. She hadn't locked the door when she arrived here. She was almost certain no one else had done it either.

"No, why would I?" Lissa asked, with her angel-face full of concern.

"The door is locked."

"Oh." Lissa's mouth formed at perfect O. "That's not good."

Rose shook her head. "Christian, could you come here? Maybe you could like melt the lock or something. And you can continue, Liss, we'll listen from here." Or not, she thought and watched Christian rising and coming towards her.

**Then, regretfully, it was over. It had taken less than a minute.**

**She pulled back, wiping her hand across her lips as she studied me. "You okay?"**

"**I…yeah." I lay back onto the bed, dizzy from the blood loss. "I just need to sleep it off. I'm fine."**

**Her pale, jade-green eyes watched me with concern. She stood up. "I'm going to get you something to eat."**

"Do feeders get food after every feeding?" Adrian asked to himself, and Rose wished that she could get that damn duct tape soon.

**My protests came awkwardly to my lips, and she left before I could get out a sentence. The buzz from her bite had lessened as soon as she broke the connection, but some of it still lingered in my veins, and I felt a goofy smile cross my lips. Turning my head, I glanced up at Oscar, still sitting in the window.**

"**You don't know what you're missing," I told him.**

Rose knew that she would agree with the book-Rose on that one, even though she knew it was a bad thing to do. It was a shame to even wish it could happen every now and then, just because of the wonderful bliss.

**His attention was on something outside. Hunkering down into a crouch, he puffed out his jet black fur. His tail started twitching.**

**My smile faded, and I forced myself to sit up. The world spun, and I waited for it to right itself before trying to stand. When I managed it, the dizziness set in again and this time refused to leave. Still, I felt okay enough to stumble to the window and peer out with Oscar. He eyed me warily, scooted over a little, and then returned to whatever had held his attention.**

**A warm breeze—unseasonably warm for a Portland fall—played with my hair as I leaned out. The street was dark and relatively quiet. It was three in the morning, just about the only time a college campus settled down, at least somewhat. The house in which we'd rented a room for the past eight months sat on a residential street with old, mismatched houses. Across the road, a streetlight flickered, nearly ready to burn out. It still cast enough light for me to make out the shapes of cars and buildings. In our own yard, I could see the silhouettes of trees and bushes.**

**And a man watching me.**

Sydneys eyebrows flew up in her hair, Eddie nearly choked on the water he had just drunk and Dimitri chuckled. He _chuckled_.

**I jerked back in surprise. A figure stood by a tree in the yard, about thirty feet away where he could easily see through the window. He was close enough that I probably could have thrown something and hit him. He was certainly close enough that he could have seen what Lissa and I just did.**

"My apologies for scaring you", Dimitri said with a smile towards Rose, and she wished that she could cuddle up to him but no, she had to break out of this room to get some stupid duct tape.

**The shadows covered him so well, that even with my heightened sight, I couldn't make out any of his features, save his height. He was tall. Really tall. **

"How tall exactly?" asked Eddie curiously.

"6'7''", Dimitri answered.

**He stood there for just a moment, barely discernible, and then stepped back, disappearing into the shadows cast by trees on the far side of the yard. I was pretty sure I saw someone else move nearby and join him before the blackness swallowed them both.**

**Whoever these figures were, Oscar didn't like them. Not counting me, he usually got along with most people, growing upset only when someone posed an immediate danger. The guy outside hadn't done anything threatening to Oscar, but the cat had sensed something, something that put him on edge.**

**Something similar to what he always sensed from me.**

"Oh, Rose is up to something", Christian smirked, earning a dark look from Lissa and a push from Rose.

"What's taking you so long?" Rose whispered as Lissa continued reading.

**Icy fear raced through me, almost—but not quite—eradicating the lovely bliss of Lissa's bite. Backing up from the window, I jerked on a pair of jeans that I found on the floor, nearly falling over in the process. **

"Nice and smooth", Adrian commented.

**Once they were on, I grabbed my coat and Lissa's, along with our wallets. Shoving my feet into the first shoes I saw, I headed out the door.**

"It – won't – melt." Christian forced the words as sweat started to drip from his forehead.

"Uh-oh", grimaced Rose. "What do we do then? I'd still like to put something in Adrian's mouth to keep him quiet."

**Downstairs, I found her in the cramped kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator. One of our housemates, Jeremy, sat at the table, hand on his forehead as he stared sadly at a calculus book. Lissa regarded me with surprise.**

"**You shouldn't be up."**

"**We have to go. Now."**

"You shouldn't have done that", Dimitri said in a low voice. Still it seemed like he admired the girls try to escape. "Not in your condition."

**Her eyes widened, and then a moment later, understanding clicked in. "Are you…really? Are you sure?"**

**I nodded. I couldn't explain how I knew for sure. I just did.**

"Rose just 'did'", Eddie said while a smile curled on his lips. He knew exactly how she just 'did'.

**Jeremy watched us curiously. "What's wrong?"**

"His cat?" Adrian asked, finally coming through with a point.

"No, it was Andrea's cat", Rose answered and glanced at the stupid door. "Come on Christian, we'll deal with that one later. Make Dimitri knock it down or something."

**An idea came to mind. "Liss, get his car keys."**

**He looked back and forth between us. "What are you—"**

**Lissa unhesitatingly walked over to him. Her fear poured into me through our psychic bond, but there was something else too…her complete faith that I would take care of everything, that we would be safe. Like always, I hoped I was worthy of that kind of trust.**

"You are", Lissa confirmed and paused reading for looking into Rose's eyes. "Never doubt that."

**She smiled broadly and gazed directly into his eyes. For a moment, Jeremy just stared, still confused, and then I saw the thrall seize him. His eyes glazed over, and he regarded her adoringly.**

Eddie, Sydney and Dimitri looked really shocked. Well, Dimitri must have suspected it, Rose thought, but Eddie had never known that they had used compulsion so freely, and Rose knew Sydney was very sensitive of this kind of stuff.

"You didn't …?"

"**We need to borrow your car," she said in a gentle voice. "Where are your keys?"**

**He smiled, and I shivered. I had a high resistance to compulsion,**

"You did." Sydney looked completely destroyed by the fact and she moaned to herself.

**but I could still feel its effects when directed at another person. That, and I'd been taught my entire life that using it was wrong.**

"It is! It's unnatural! It's forbidden for a reason!" Sydney exclaimed but Adrian glared so dark at her that she shut up.

"We don't want a lesson here, okay?"

She nodded and curled to a ball. Rose thought she looked awfully lonely, but she sat with Dimitri and … yeah. Having his arms around you didn't make you want to leave, exactly.

**Reaching into his pocket, Jeremy handed over a set of keys hanging on a large red keychain.**

"**Thank you," said Lissa. "And where's it parked?"**

"**Down the street," he said dreamily. "At the corner. By Brown." Four blocks away.**

"Four blocks to many", Rose said quietly.

"**Thank you," she repeated, backing up. "As soon as we leave, I want you to go back to studying. Forget you ever saw us tonight."**

"That is very powerful compulsion", Adrian said. Of course he could do it too, as a Spirit user, but it shocked every vampire to make the victim forget they ever saw you. Adrian, on the other way, thought it was an awesome way to have one night stands.

**He nodded obligingly. I got the impression he would have walked off a cliff for her right then if she'd asked. All humans were susceptible to compulsion, but Jeremy appeared weaker than most. That came in handy right now.**

"**Come on," I told her. "We've got to move."**

**We stepped outside, heading toward the corner he'd named. I was still dizzy from the bite and kept stumbling, unable to move as quickly as I wanted. Lissa had to catch hold of me a few times to stop me from falling. All the time, that anxiety rushed into me from her mind. I tried my best to ignore it; I had my own fears to deal with.**

"Rose has fears?" Christian pretended to be shocked by this, but in fact, he knew some of the things she was afraid of.

"**Rose…what are we going to do if they catch us?" she whispered.**

"**They won't," I said fiercely. "I won't let them."**

"**But if they've found us…"**

"**They found us before.**

"Before?" Eddie asked, since he hadn't been in the middle of things back then. He didn't know much of this actually.

"It'll be explained further in the book", Rose said, biting her lip. Well, that was just a guess, she didn't know how much this freaky person knew about her thoughts and what they'd been through.

**They didn't catch us then. We'll just drive over to the train station and go to L.A. They'll lose the trail."**

**I made it sound simple. I always did, even though there was nothing simple about being on the run from the people we'd grown up with. We'd been doing it for two years, hiding wherever we could and just trying to finish high school. Our senior year had just started, and living on a college campus had seemed safe. We were so close to freedom.**

"So close", Rose whispered. There were still days she felt like it would've been so nice to be a normal teenager. But then again, being either a dhampir or an actual vampire wasn't quite normal.

**She said nothing more, and I felt her faith in me surge up once more. This was the way it had always been between us. I was the one who took action, who made sure things happened—sometimes recklessly so. She was the more reasonable one, the one who thought things out and researched them extensively before acting. Both styles had their uses, but at the moment, recklessness was called for. **

"Isn't it always when it comes to you, Rose?" Lissa teased a little bit, no pun intended, and none taken must be said, because Rose laughed.

"Not always."

**We didn't have time to hesitate.**

**Lissa and I had been best friends ever since kindergarten, when our teacher had paired us together for writing lessons. Forcing five-year-olds to spell **_**Vasilisa Dragomir**_** and **_**Rosemarie Hathaway**_** was beyond cruel,**

Both of the girls laughed at that memory, and everyone else laughed as well. Even Sydney did.

**and we'd—or rather, **_**I'd**_**—responded appropriately. I'd chucked my book at our teacher and called her a fascist bastard.**

Dimitri did that cool eyebrow thing, but couldn't hide a smile.

**I hadn't known what those words meant, but I'd known how to hit a moving target.**

More laughter.

**Lissa and I had been inseparable ever since.**

"**Do you hear that?" she asked suddenly.**

**It took me a few seconds to pick up what her sharper senses already had. Footsteps, moving fast. I grimaced. We had two more blocks to go.**

"**We've got to run for it," I said, catching hold of her arm.**

"Stupid, stupid, stupid", Eddie said to himself, still listening to the book though.

"**But you can't—"**

"_**Run**_**."**

**It took every ounce of my willpower not to pass out on the sidewalk. My body didn't want to run after losing blood or while still metabolizing the effects of her saliva. But I ordered my muscles to stop their bitching**

"Talking to your muscles? Liss, are you sure you still want to be friends with Rose, even though I suspect she's a lunatic?" Christian said, very seriously, but the spark in his blue Ozera-eyes were there.

"Of course." Lissa laughed again.

**and clung to Lissa as our feet pounded against the concrete. Normally I could have outrun her without any extra effort—particularly since she was barefoot—but tonight, she was all that held me upright.**

Someone started to say something, but as Lissa saw how much there was left of the chapter, she hushed them quite abruptly.

**The pursuing footsteps grew louder, closer. Black stars danced before my eyes. Ahead of us, I could make out Jeremy's green Honda. Oh God, if we could just make it—**

"So close", Rose moaned again, though leaning against Dimitri's chest.

**Ten feet from the car, a man stepped directly into our path. We came to a screeching halt, and I jerked Lissa back by her arm. It was **_**him**_**, the guy I'd seen across the street watching me. He was older than us, maybe mid-twenties, and as tall as I'd figured, probably 6'6" or 6'7". And under different circumstances—say, when he wasn't holding up our desperate escape—I would have thought he was hot.**

"Maybe the hot guy rubbing the sun oil on your back in your dream", Eddie teased, but as Dimitri shot him an unreadable look (not mean though, just weird), he backed off immediately.

**Shoulder-length brown hair, tied back into a short pony-tail. Dark brown eyes. A long, brown coat like horse riders wore, not quite a trench coat. A duster, I thought it was called.**

**But his hotness was irrelevant now. **

"Really? You put hotness aside to do your duty?" Christian dryly.

"I do it all the time", Rose answered with a sigh. Man, she wished she could look at Dimitri more often.

**He was only an obstacle keeping Lissa and me away from the car and our freedom. The footsteps behind us slowed, and I knew our pursuers had caught up. Off to the sides, I detected more movement, more people closing in. God. They'd sent almost a dozen guardians to retrieve us. I couldn't believe it. The queen herself didn't travel with that many.**

"Not even now", Adrian said with a smile, and he seemed okay now. Rose still wished there was duct tape somewhere, but nope, nowhere in sight. "Your highness", he added just for the fun of it.

**Panicked and not entirely in control of my higher reasoning, I acted out of instinct. I pressed up to Lissa, keeping her behind me and away from the man who appeared to be the leader.**

"**Leave her alone," I growled. "Don't touch her."**

**His face was unreadable, but he held out his hands in what was apparently supposed to be some sort of calming gesture, like I was a rabid animal he was planning to sedate.**

"**I'm not going to—"**

**He took a step forward. Too close.**

**I attacked him, leaping out in an offensive maneuver I hadn't used in two years, not since Lissa and I had run away. The move was stupid, another reaction born of instinct and fear. And it was hopeless. He was a skilled guardian, not a novice who hadn't finished her training. He also wasn't weak and on the verge of passing out.**

"Awkward", Rose said with a grimace. She even blushed a little, she had been so awfully bad at the time.

**And man, was he fast. I'd forgotten how fast guardians could be, how they could move and strike like cobras. **

"Good metaphor, _Roza_", Dimitri said trying to hide a proud smile.

**He knocked me off as though brushing away a fly, and his hands slammed into me and sent me backwards. I don't think he meant to strike that hard—probably just intended to keep me away—but my lack of coordination interfered with my ability to respond. Unable to catch my footing, I started to fall, heading straight toward the sidewalk at a twisted angle, hip-first. It was going to hurt. A **_**lot**_**.**

The guardians in the room flinched, all three of them.

**Only it didn't.**

Eddie's eyebrows (both of them, to Rose's happiness) shot up, high in the air and disappeared behind his hair.

**Just as quickly as he'd blocked me, the man reached out and caught my arm, keeping me upright. When I'd steadied myself, I noticed he was staring at me—or, more precisely, at my neck. Still disoriented, I didn't get it right away. Then, slowly, my free hand reached up to the side of my throat and lightly touched the wound Lissa had made earlier. When I pulled my fingers back, I saw slick, dark blood on my skin. Embarrassed, I shook my hair so that it fell forward around my face. It was thick and long and completely covered my neck. I'd grown it out for precisely this reason.**

At the mention of Rose's hair many eyes looked over there. It was some pretty hair, and they all knew it. Sydney envied it. Lissa liked to do stuff with it, like braiding it, just because it was so soft. Adrian knew exactly how it felt to pull his finger through it like Dimitri did now. Eddie and Christian, yeah, they looked mostly because everyone else looked.

Dimitri, on the other hand … His obsession with Rose's hair was on another level.

**The guy's dark eyes lingered on the now-covered bite a moment longer and then met mine. I returned his look defiantly and quickly jerked out of his hold. He let me go, though I knew he could have restrained me all night if he'd wanted. Fighting the nauseating dizziness, I backed toward Lissa again, bracing myself for another attack. Suddenly, her hand caught a hold of mine. "Rose," she said quietly. "Don't."**

"Do I still that effect on you?" Lissa asked with a curious smile.

"Of course you do", Rose answered, no doubt. Lissa observed things another way than she did, Roses were more guardian-thinking and Lissa just absorbed everything. "But you've got competition." She was about to turn her face to Dimitri and smile towards him, that goofy smile you had when in love, but she was interrupted in her act.

"Aw, I always knew you'd listen to me", Christian said, playing touched.

"Shut up", Rose said with a smirk and finally got to turn to Dimitri, and sought his lips with hers to join them in a light kiss.

**Her words had no effect on me at first, but calming thoughts gradually began to settle in my mind, coming across through the bond. It wasn't exactly compulsion—she wouldn't use that on me—but it was effectual, as was the fact that we were hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed. Even I knew this would be pointless. The tension left my body, and I sagged in defeat.**

**Sensing my resignation, the man stepped forward, turning his attention to Lissa. His face was calm. He swept her a bow and managed to look graceful doing it, which surprised me considering his height. "My name is Dimitri Belikov," he said. I could hear a faint Russian accent. "I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."**

"And that's chapter one", Lissa said. Silence fell in the room. No one wanted to volunteer to read the next chapter.

"I could have a go …?" Sydney said, unsure and shy in the room with all these vampires. She didn't have any relation to most of them, so she figured it would be easier to read now in the beginning than later on.

"Sure", Lissa smiled gently and gave the book to Sydney.


	3. Chapter Two

**MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER.  
If you haven't read Last Sacrifice yet, and are planning to do so, please, stop reading now. I beg you. I reveal so many things from that book that are the most awesome parts and I can't stand being the one who took the shock from you. If you have – you are most welcome to continue reading. (You who haven't read LS too of course, but don't blame me.)**

When Sydney turned page, Rose glanced around the room, just to scout for any possible threats. Maybe the books were sent here as a distraction? The thought lingered in her head. When she glanced around, she saw and remembered the locked door.

"Yeah. Right." She mumbled. "It seems as we're locked inside this room."

"What?" said Dimitri suspiciously, glancing around just as Rose had done.

"The door is locked", answered Rose.

"We'll take care of that after this chapter, okay?" Lissa promised, because it really didn't matter to her quite yet. She wasn't hungry nor did she need to go to the bathroom, so she didn't think it was necessary to take care of that now.

Rose didn't seem happy, but she agreed. The room now resembled the cage when she'd been in prison a few weeks ago, locked in and no way to get out. Well, if you had your friends on the outside there's hope, but they were all in here with her. "Go on, Sydney."

**My hatred notwithstanding** **I had to admit Dimitri Beli-whatever**

"Beli-whatever?" Dimitri asked curiously with an amused smile.

"I don't know", Rose shrugged, but she smiled just as much. It wasn't these things she was embarrassed of.

**was pretty smart.**

"At least she said you were smart, Beli-whatever", Christian said with a muffled laughter.

**After they'd carted us off to the airport to and onto the Academy's private jet, he'd taken one look at the two of us whispering and ordered us separated.**

**"Don't let them talk to each other," he warned the guardian who escorted me to the back of the plane. "Five minutes together, **

"And they'll make a plan to escape", Eddie guessed.

**and they'll come up with an escape plan."**

"I know you, you know", Eddie continued. "After all – it was the three of us who broke in to Tarazov, right?"

Not one of their finer moments, Rose thought, but it was pretty badass to sneak into that top security prison.

**I shot him a haughty look and stormed off down the aisle.** **Never mind the fact we**_**had **_**been planning escape.**

**As it was, things didn't look good for our heroes—or heroines, rather.**

"You know, without the e and s it's-", Adrian began, but at this even Sydney reacted and hit him in the back of his head with the book. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"Sch", Sydney said, nervous again, she shouldn't have done that, and then continued reading.

**Once we were in the air, our odds of escape dropped further. Even supposing a miracle occurred and I did manage to take out all ten guardians,** **we'd sort of have a problem in getting off the plane. I figured they might have parachutes aboard somewhere, but in the unlikely event I'd be able to operate one, there was still that little issue of** **survival, seeing as we'd probably land somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.**

**No, we weren't getting off this plane until it landed in backwoods Montana. I'd have to think of something then, something that involved getting past the Academy's magical wards and ten times as many guardians.** **Yeah. No problem.**

"I don't doubt you'd succeed if you tried", Dimitri said with the tiniest hint of a smile, but he sounded seriously.

"Me neither", Lissa agreed, giving Rose the most trustful look there was.

"To be honest, me neither", Rose laughed, "not now at least. I can do whatever I'd like too. I'm that badass."

**Although Lissa sat at the front with the Russian guy,** **her fear sang back to me, pounding inside my head like a hammer. My concern for her cut into my fury. They couldn't take her back**_**there, **_**not to that place. I wondered if Dimitri might have hesitated if he could feel what I did and if he knew what I knew.**

"I don't know", Dimitri said at this. "I think it would've been safer at the Academy if you told us what was going on,"

"I know that _now_", Rose responded.

**Probably not. He didn't care.**

"I did!" exclaimed Dimitri, and rose didn't even bother to answer this time.

She knew _now _that he did – but back then, she didn't even remember his name. How could she possibly know he was a wonderful person?

**As it was, her emotions grew so strong that for a moment, I had the disorienting sensation of sitting in her seat—in her skin even.** **It happened sometimes, and without much warning, she'd pull me right into her head. Dimitri's tall frame sat beside me,** **and my hand—**_**her**___**hand—gripped a bottle of water. He leaned forward to pick up something, revealing six **

Rose gently brushed away his hair to count them now. There wasn't many more, considering that he'd been a Strigoi and then restored but not put out to business until a few weeks ago. But there was one new. Not a _molnija_ though. They'd invented a new tattoo, to show which people who had been restored from the Strigoi state. Sonya Karp had one too.

**tiny symbols tattooed on the back of his neck:**_**molnija **_**marks.** **They looked like two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X symbol. One for each Strigoi he'd killed.** **Above them was a twisting line, sort of like a snake, that marked him as a promise mark.**

**Blinking, I fought against her and shifted back into my own head with a grimace. I hated when that happened.** **Feeling Lissa's emotions was one thing, but slipping into her was something we both despised.**

The two girls grimaced at the same time, causing laughter to flutter through the room.

**She saw it as an invasion of privacy, so I usually didn't tell her when it happened.** **Neither of us could control it. It was another effect of the bond, a bond neither of us fully understood. Legends existed about** **psychic links between guardians and their Moroi, but the stories had never mentioned anything like this. We fumbled through it as best we could.**

**Near the end of the flight, Dimitri walked back to where I sat and traded places with the guardian beside me.** **I pointedly turned away, staring out the window absentmindedly. Several moments of silence passed.**

**Finally, he said, "Were you really going to attack all of us?"**

"You were a threat", Rose defended herself. "I was supposed to protect her."

**I didn't answer.**

"We got the answer", Adrian said without irony or sarcasm.

**"Doing that…protecting her like that—it was very brave."**

Eddie arched his eyebrow. He hadn't expected Guardian Belikov to praise such a stupid thing, but Eddie was moved by Roses dedication.

**He paused. **_**"Stupid,**_ **but still brave. Why did you even try it?"**

**I glanced over at him, brushing my hair out of my face so I could look him levelly in the eye.**

**"Because I'm her guardian." I turned back toward the window.**

"You wasn't at the time", Adrian commented, no longer annoying.

"I saw myself as it", Rose explained, "it was everyone's wishes and the way it was supposed to be, the bond or not."

**After another quiet moment, he stood up and returned to the front of the jet. When we landed, Lissa and I had no choice but to let the commandos drive us out to the Academy. Our car stopped at the gate, and our driver spoke with guards who verified we weren't Strigoi about to go off on a killing spree.** **After a minute, they let us pass on through the wards and up to the Academy itself. It was around sunset—the start of the vampiric day—and the campus lay wrapped in shadows.**

**It probably looked the same, sprawling and gothic.** **The Moroi were big on tradition; nothing ever changed with them. This school wasn't as old as the ones back in Europe, but it had been built in the same buildings boasted elaborate, almost churchlike architecture, with high peaks and stone carvings. Wrought iron gates enclosed small gardens and doorways here and there. After living on a** **college campus, I had a new appreciation for just how much this place resembled a university more than a typical high school.**

Sydney's face grew with emotions; she loved architecture Rose remembered. Therefor it was not surprising that she read so fast and mumbled while she was trying to see how it looked at the academy. The others didn't hear what she already had read, but Lissa kindly asked if she could do it again, and Sydney did so – while blushing.

**We were on the secondary campus, which was divided into lower and upper schools. Each was built around a large open quadrangle decorated with stone paths and enormous, century-old trees. We were going toward the upper school's quad, which had academic buildings on one side, while dhampir dormitories and the gym sat opposite. Moroi dorms sat on one of the other ends, and opposite them were the administrative buildings that also served the lower school. Younger students lived on the primary campus, farther to the west.**

**Around all the campuses was space, space, and more space. We were in Montana , after all, miles away from any real city. The air felt cool in my lungs and smelled of pine and wet, decaying leaves. Overgrown forests ringed the perimeters of the Academy, and during the day, you could see mountains rising up in the distance.**

"Good old Montana", Rose sighed.

**As we walked into the main part of the upper school, I broke from my guardian and ran up to Dimitri.**

**"Hey, Comrade."**

Dimitri chuckled again while he shook his head.

**He kept walking and wouldn't look at me. "You want to talk now?**

**"Are you taking us to Kirova?"**

**"Headmistress Kirova," he corrected. On the other side of him, Lissa shot me a look that said, **_**Don't start**__**something.**_

**"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit—"**

Sydney's voice trailed off while her mouth was wide open. "She's authority", she whispered. She'd gotten used to challenge authority, but calling them ugly names was not on her list yet.

"I told you I disrespect authority all the time." Rose laughed gently at Sydney. "You've got one or two things to learn from me."

**My words faded as the guardians led us through a set of doors—straight into the commons. I sighed. Were these people**_**really **_**so cruel?** **There had to be at least a dozen ways to get to Kirova's office, and they were taking us right through the center of the commons.**

**And it was breakfast time.**

"That was kind of mean", Lissa commented, "it wasn't nice at the very least."

Rose couldn't help the smile that curled her lips – Lissa, always the polite one.

**Novice guardians—dhampirs like me—and Moroi sat together, eating and socializing, faces alight with whatever current gossip held the Academy's attention. When we entered, the loud buzz of conversation stopped instantly, like someone had flipped a switch. Hundreds of sets of eyes swiveled toward us.**

**I returned the stares of my former classmates with a lazy grin,** **trying to get a sense as to whether things had changed. Nope. Didn't seem like it. Camille Conta still looked like the prim, perfectly groomed bitch I remembered,** **still the self-appointed leader of the Academy's royal Moroi cliques. Off to the side, Lissa's gawky near-cousin Natalie **

Rose growled. She'd plagued herself for not seeing that Natalie was the problem months after everything was fine, and she kind of still did. Didn't guardians look after their Moroi, and wasn't she badass enough to see through the charade that Natalie had been putting up?

**watched with wide eyes, as innocent and naïve as before**

**And on the other side of the room…well, that was interesting. Aaron. Poor, poor Aaron, who'd no doubt had his heart broken when Lissa left. He still looked as cute as ever** —

"Rose liked Aaron!" Christian exclaimed out of pure happiness of an opportunity to tease her.

Rose didn't even answer, it was a low blow and a sad joke. Pathetic even, but Lissa gave Rose such a glare that even the dark haired girl shut up.

**maybe more so now—** **with those same golden looks that complemented hers so well.** **His eyes followed her every move. Yes. Definitely not over her.**

"I kind of wonder if he'll ever be", Eddie said with a smile, an odd mix of compassion and utter happiness.

Adrian, on the other side of the room, knew exactly the feeling as his green eyes looked at Rose and Belikov. She was more beautiful than ever, because she was truly happy. This was probably the first time in years she was genuinely happy and had no problems or worries at all. Lucky bastard, Adrian thought.

**It was sad, really, because Lissa had never really been all that into him.** **I think she'd gone out with him simply because it seemed like the expected thing to do.**

**But what I found most interesting was that Aaron had apparently found a way to pass the time without her. Beside him, holding his hand, was a Moroi girl who looked about eleven** **had to be older,** **unless he'd become a pedophile during our absence.** **With plump little cheeks and blond ringlets, she looked like a porcelain doll.** **A very pissed off and evil porcelain doll.**

Laughter circled the room, and Christian commented "Poor Mia", but he knew exactly the face. Mia had changed so much it was kind of unbelievable, but on the other hand, Christian had changed too. It was because of that change he could be friendly to Rose and even brother-sister to one another.

**She gripped his hand tightly and shot Lissa a look of such burning hatred that it stunned me. What the hell was that all about? She was no one I knew. Just a jealous girlfriend, I guessed.** **I'd be pissed too if my guy was watching someone else like that.**

"Aw", Lissa said, hugging Rose.

**Our walk of shame mercifully ended, though our new setting—Headmistress Kirova's** **office—didn't really improve things. The old hag looked exactly like I remembered,** **sharp-nosed and gray-haired. She was tall and slim, like most Moroi, and had always reminded me of a vulture. I knew her well because I'd spent a lot of time in her office.**

**Most of our escorts left us once Lissa and I were seated, and I felt a little less like a prisoner. Only Alberta , the captain of the school's guardians, and Dimitri stayed. They took up positions along the wall, looking stoic and terrifying,** **just as their job description required.**

**Kirova fixed her angry eyes on us and opened her mouth to begin what would no doubt be a major bitch session. A deep, gentle voice stopped her.**

**"Vasilisa."**

"Uh." Lissa shrugged, like she could get away from real name.

"_Queen _Vasilisa even", Adrian said with a smirk and a joking nod.

"Because that's much better", Lissa said with a happy smile, because she didn't actually dislike being queen. Things just had changed a lot.

**Startled, I realized there was someone else in the room. I hadn't noticed. Careless for a guardian, even a novice one.** **With a great deal of effort, Victor Dashkov**

Rose tensed at her place on the floor, feeling Dimitri's arms wrapped around her doing the same. Lissa's face became plagued in agony, even if he was dead now. He had still been a horrible person to them all, and nothing was ever going to change that.

**rose from a corner chair.**_**Prince **_**Victor Dashkov.** **Lissa sprang up and ran to him, throwing her arms around his frail body.**

**"Uncle," she whispered.**

"Bastard", Rose whispered. He was no longer a threat, but reading this book was like reliving your worst nightmare. And sadly, if things progressed, it would only get worse.

**She sounded on the verge of tears as she tightened her a small smile, he gently patted her back.**

**"You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He looked toward me. "And you too, Rose."**

"It's like I'm your side-kick or something." Rose commented, but didn't convince anyone with her joke.

"You aren't?" Lissa answered with a amused smile.

"If something your mine. I mean, a book always follows the badass one, never the one with brains." Rose shrugged with a smile and a wink to Lissa.

**I nodded back, trying to hide how shocked I was. He'd been sick when we left, but this—this was **_**horrible. **_**He was Natalie's father, only about forty or so, but he looked twice that age. Pale. Withered. Hands shaking. My heart broke watching him.** **With all the horrible people in the world,** **it didn't seem**

"-as he would be one of them", Rose muttered.

**fair that this guy should get a disease that was going to kill him young and ultimately keep him from becoming king.**

**Although not technically her uncle—the Moroi used family terms very loosely, especially the royals—Victor was a close friend of Lissa's family and had gone out of his way to help her after her parents had died. I liked him;** **he was the first person I was happy to see here.**

**Kirova let them have a few more moments and then stiffly drew Lissa back to her seat.**

**Time for the lecture.**

"Oh yeah", Rose leaned back on Dimitri when remembering that one. "It was a good one."

**It was a good one—one of Kirova's best, which was saying something. She was a master at them. I swear that was the only reason she'd gone into school administration, because I had yet to see any evidence of her actually**_**liking **_**kids.**

"Rose." Lissa moaned and looked questioning on her dhampir friend.

**The rant covered the usual topics: responsibility reckless behavior, self-centeredness.…Bleh. I immediately found myself spacing out, alternatively pondering the logistics of escaping through the window in her office.**

"Still planning an escape", Adrian said with almost a smile. He was progressing, Rose noticed. He was still drunk, but some sleep would make that go away. That was the next problem Rose realized; sleep.

**But when the tirade shifted to me—well, that was when I tuned back in.**

**"You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi.** **It is a great trust. A trust that you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here. The Strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs;** _**you **_**nearly enabled them to do it."**

**"Rose didn't kidnap me." Lissa spoke before I could, her voice and face calm, despite her uneasy feelings. "I wanted to go. Don't blame her."**

**Ms. Kirova**_**tsk**_**ed at us**

"So rude, you don't go around and_ tsk_ people." Christian said with played hurt pride, and they all laughed.

**both and paced the office, hands folded behind her narrow back.**

**"Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still**_**her **_**responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe."**

"Since everyone was so keen to tell me that Lissa wasn't my assignment yet, I don't really get it why it was my responsibility to keep her at the academy." Rose looked fiercely at everyone in the room, although it wasn't anyone there's fault. She just wanted an answer. She didn't get one.

**I snapped.**

**"I**_**did **_**do my duty!" I shouted, jumping up from my chair. Dimitri and Alberta both flinched but left me alone since I wasn't trying to hit anyone.**

"Yet", Christian laughed.

**Yet.**

Everyone, except Sydney (who really wanted to finish the chapter sometime before 2023, for example, today) burst into laughter.

**"I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of**_**you"**_**—I made a sweeping gesture around the room—"could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."**

**Through the bond, I felt Lissa trying to send me calming messages, again urging me not to let anger get the best of late.**

**Kirova stared at me, her face blank. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"**

**I bit my lip.**

"Always secrets", Dimitri whispered.

**"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left—aside from the novelty of it, no doubt—was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."**

**"No, that's not—"**

**"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."**

**My cockiness dried up. "I … what?"**

"No words, at last." Eddie said with a smile.

**Lissa stood up beside me. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."**

**"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."**

**"But my parents—"**

**"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."**

**I stared at Kirova, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone?** **Or maybe you'll send me off to my**_**father?"**_

**Her eyes narrowed at the bite in that last word. When I spoke again, my voice was so cold, I barely recognized it.**

**"Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day."**

**"Miss Hathaway," she hissed, "you are out of line."**

**"They have a bond." Dimitri's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all turned toward him. I think Kirova had forgotten he was there, but I hadn't.**

"Of course you hadn't", Christian chuckled.

**His presence was way too powerful to ignore. He still stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in that ridiculous long coat of his.**

"Cowboy? And my duster is not ridiculous", Dimitri tried to sound serious, but the laughter was there in the pretty brown eyes of his.

**He looked at me, not Lissa,** **his dark eyes staring straight through me. "Rose knows what Vasilisa** **is feeling. Don't you?"**

"Not anymore", Rose said, not knowing what to feel about it. It hadn't been that long since the bond had disappeared. It was great to have her own mind and thoughts, and that the only sexual events was her own, but … it felt weird even though.

**I at least had the satisfaction of seeing Kirova caught off guard as she glanced between us and Dimitri.**

**"No…that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."**

**"It's obvious," he said. "I suspected as soon as I started watching them."**

"How did you know about bonds, Dimitri?" Lissa asked curiously.

"My grandmother told me about them", Dimitri answered with a sad smile. It might seem strange for a twenty-five year old to miss his grandma, but he did.

"Of course she did. I bet she learned from Oksana and Mark." Rose said. The thought of Yeva still scared the crap out of her, and they hadn't even been back to Russia yet. Lissa was planned on going on a trip there when winter came, and Baia was in the plans, just for the sake of Dimitri's family and Oksana.

**Neither Lissa nor I responded, and I averted my eyes from his.**

**"That is a gift," murmured Victor from his corner."A rare and wonderful thing."**

"**The best guardians always had that bond," added Dimitri. "In the stories."**

**Kirova's outrage returned. "Stories that are centuries old," she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"**

**He shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential—"**

**"Wild and disrespectful?"I interrupted. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"**

**"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said Kirova."Her**_**sanctioned **_**guardian."**

**"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?"**

**That was pretty mean of me to say—particularly since most Moroi and their guardians were of Russian or Romanian descent—but the comment seemed cleverer at the time than it really was.**

"They always are, Rose", Eddie said with a smile.

**And it wasn't like I was one to talk. I might have been raised in the U.S., but my parents were foreign-born. My dhampir mother was Scottish—red-haired, with a ridiculous accent—and I'd been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. That genetic combination had given me skin the same color as the inside of an almond, along with what I liked to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features:** **big dark eyes and hair so deep brown that it usually looked black. I wouldn't have minded inheriting the red hair, but we take what we get.**

"My exotic desert-princess", Dimitri whispered in Rose's ear just before placing a kiss behind it.

**Kirova threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to him. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and**_**very **_**raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."**

"Is it really? I think that's kind of harsh." Lissa said thoughtfully.

**"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."**

**"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."**

**"No, I won't," I argued. No one listened to me.**

"No one ever does", Christian laughed.

**"Then give her extra training sessions," he said.**

**They continued on while the rest of us watched the exchange like it was a Ping-Pong game.**

**My pride was still hurt over the ease with which Dimitri had tricked us, but it occurred to me that he might very well keep me here with Lissa. Better to stay at this hellhole than be without her.**

**Through our bond, I could feel her trickle of hope.**

**"Who's going to put in the extra time?" demanded Kirova."You?"**

**Dimitri's argument came to an abrupt stop. "Well, that's not what I—"**

**Kirova crossed her arms with satisfaction. "Yes. That's what I thought."**

**Clearly at a loss, he frowned. His eyes flicked toward Lissa and me, and I wondered what he pathetic girls, looking at him with big, pleading eyes? Or two runaways who'd broken out of a high-security school and swiped half of Lissa's inheritance?**

"I saw to girls who needed help to fulfill their purposes", Dimitri said, but the others just laughed. "I saw your potential, guardian Hathaway and Queen Vasilisa."

**"Yes," he said finally. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."**

**"And then what?" retorted Kirova angrily. "She goes unpunished?"**

**"Find some other way to punish her," answered Dimitri. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular."**

**His unspoken words made me shudder, reminding me of my earlier statement about "blood whores." Few dhampir girls became guardians anymore.**

**Victor suddenly spoke up from his corner. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent."**

"Thank you for that, you asshole", Rose muttered fiercely.

**Ms. Kirova stared out her window. It was completely black outside. With the Academy's nocturnal schedule, **_**morning **_**and**_**afternoon **_**were relative , and they kept the windows tinted to block out excess light.**

**When she turned back around, Lissa met her eyes. "Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay."**

**Oh, Lissa, I thought.**_**Be careful. **_**Using compulsion**

"Again?" Sydney exclaimed before she remembered where she was and who she was. Sydney Sage did not scream in public.

Christian, on the other hand leaned forward to hear when Lissa compelled Headmistress Kirova. Adrian too, since this was one of the first time she used magic.

**on another Moroi was dangerous—particularly in front of witnesses. But Lissa was only using a tiny bit, and we needed all the help we could get.**

**Fortunately, no one seemed to realize what was happening. I don't even know if the compulsion made a difference, but finally, Kirova sighed.**

Adrian sighed out of disappointment. No real magic.

**"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be." She turned to me. "Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line**_**once, **_**and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have—before**_**and **_**after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent…away."**

"That's hard", Adrian said. "No boys, Rose, how did you survive?"

"I had a sexy mentor to look at", Rose said without being ashamed, and cuddled against Dimitri's chest as Adrians eyes went dark again.

**I gave a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" I nodded toward Lissa. "Afraid we'll run away again?"**

"She's is kind of smart, I have to give her that", Rose said reluctantly.

**"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property.**

"What exactly did you destroy?" Eddie asked.

"Uh." Rose blushed, for once. "I'll tell you when we finish the book-", fingers crossed that he would forget, "if it isn't in it." More fingers crossed that it wasn't.

**You have a lot to make up for." Her thin lips tightened into a straight line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."**

**I started to say it wasn't generous at all, but then I caught Dimitri's gaze. It was hard to read. He might have been telling me he believed in me. He might have been telling me I was an idiot to keep fighting with Kirova. I didn't know.**

"What exactly was you trying to tell me?" Rose asked curiously.

"I don't know, some kind of mix of that, I guess", Dimitri shrugged with a smile.

**Looking away from him for the second time during the meeting, I stared at the floor, conscious of Lissa beside me and her own encouragement burning in our bond. At long last, I exhaled and glanced back up at the headmistress.**

An intense silence suddenly fell in the room, everyone sensing some kind of a cliffhanger.

**"Fine. I accept."**

"That's the end of chapter two", Sydney said with a low voice. "Who wants to read the next one?" She put a finger between the pages to prevent them from flipping together and making a mess – Sydney disliked messes, and yet she was friend with Rose – and looked at the others. Rose and Dimitri already stood up, ready to take down a door.

"Uh, we'll wait with that for now, okay? I know it's not a Strigoi, but that door is pissing me off and I've got to handle the situation before I freak out", Rose said, in one long string and she couldn't have breathed during it.

"Take it easy, Hathaway", Eddie laughed as the three guardians approached the locked door. Eddie put a hand on the handle, just in case that things might had changed and it was now open, but no such luck.

Dimitri examined the door closely, as though he actually was going lifting it off its hinges. Rose looked suspiciously at it, not knowing what to do. Her badass reputation didn't do much for her now.

"Hey, Lissa, got a hairpin?"

Instantly, Lissa reached for her hair, searching through it after little precious hairpins. Christian, who had a better view of her blond hair, shook his head.

"Sorry Rose, none today."

"Shit." Rose muttered. What to do know? How were they ever to get out? If they ever did, Rose thought with a sigh. Her brown eyes followed Dimitri as he backed from the door, the leapt forward just to crash into the door. The door gave no sign of giving in, and so Dimitri did this again. Eddie followed his example, and though Rose really had given hope of getting out, she was frustrated enough to try this. It was an option after all.

She threw herself against the door, but it refused to move. But Rose was just as stubborn and took a few steps back.

"Rose, it doesn't work", Dimitri said calmly.

"Of course it will! We just have to break it before it breaks us", Rose said stubbornly, demanding them all to throw themselves at the door. Except that she was the only one to do so.

"_Roza_", Dimitri begun, catching her after her fourth attempt. "It doesn't work. We have to figure out something else."

He leaned against the wall, pushing the struggling Rose against his chest. She eventually stopped fighting him. It did no good, because he was a god, a god that was a great kisser. Kissing him was just so much more interesting than some stupid door right now. Rose could have continued for a long, long time if it weren't for the surprised scream that Lissa gave away.

"Jill!"

**And that's my end of chapter three! :D**

**Other than that – thank you, mavebelikova, MoonlightPath666 and Chelseajaybaybeh for reviewing on the other chapters :) It means so much. **

**I'm finally back! A couple of weeks ago I went to Turkey with my family and I bought a real Turkish nazar. It's so pretty :D **

**I came back today from a five-day school trip to Prague with all the students in my year. Loved it!**

**It's only four days 'til "The Golden Lily" is out in the bookstores, and I can't wait. I'm hoping I get it in graduation present :D What do you wish will happen? **

**And also, one last tiny thing. I'm writing my own VA-fanfiction, completely my own storyline and I'm so happy. I'll keep you updated on that one. ;) I also have in mind some one-shots between Abe/Janine and Abe/Tatiana. **

**I guess that's all. Thank you for reading!**


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